


Whisper of Leaves (An Erin Takashima Short-Story)

by norsko



Series: Takashima Series [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Fantasy, Gods, Magic, Supernatural Elements, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-17 01:20:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9297896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/norsko/pseuds/norsko
Summary: Erin Takashima has finally tracked down a source of supernatural power - a magical forest known to house a Forest God. But when he finds himself trapped within the forest along with his older brother and his brother's girlfriend, he'll need to face challenges and find the god to plead for a favour - before the forest toys with them to death.





	

**Author's Note:**

> (this is set just before the start of Knives)

    “We’re lost.”

 

  Erin Takashima glanced over his shoulder at his older brother. With a half-smile, half grimace, he said,

 

    “We are _not_ lost.”

 

  They were lost.

  Erin glanced at the map on his phone for what felt like the hundredth time, but no matter how he turned the screen around it just refused to match the wilderness around them. “We’re just… taking the long way ‘round.” Erin shrugged, but it was no use. His brother could read his mind as easily as reading an open book—though he reassured Erin often that it was rude to it without permission. But Erin knew better; he’d know he was lying.

  Morgan frowned at him, pushing his glasses back up his nose and drawing his hoodie tighter around his head to ward off the afternoon sunlight, but said nothing else. Even beneath the canopy of forest leaves the sun was too strong for his older brother’s sensitive _Vorvintti_ eyes. Erin didn’t want to think about it. He also didn’t want to think about his brother getting mad at him for having gotten both him _and_ his girlfriend lost.

 

    “Are you sure we haven’t just… gone up the wrong way?” Melanie, Morgan’s girlfriend, said as she stepped around a tree.

    “We _have_ been climbing a while,” Morgan grumbled.

  Erin glanced at his phone again. “I thought—” at Morgan’s face, Erin hastily corrected, “—I _know_ we were just going up the path that was on here, and all the signs matched up and everything, but somehow… it’s like the path changed without us noticing.” His voice hushed once the realisation hit, and Erin shared a conspiratorial glance with his brother.

 

   _Magic._

 

  It couldn’t be, could it? They had only been hiking along the forested mountain ridge for an hour or so, and couldn’t be that far from the shuttle that had brought them there, but already the forest seemed far too dense, the trees around them huge, soaring into the blanket of leaves far above. There was just the faintest path for the group to trek along, but even that seemed undisturbed and treacherous, as though it were better suited for those on four feet rather than two.

  Maybe they had been climbing longer than Erin realised.

    “When did we leave?” he asked.

  Melanie put her fingers to her chin. “About… ten?”

    “And how long did it take for us to get here?”

    “With the shuttle-thing, about forty-minutes,” Morgan provided.

    “‘Shuttle-thing’”, Melanie teased, lightly punching Morgan in the shoulder as Erin glanced at his watch. “You’re such a city boy.”

  Erin frowned down at his phone. “Wait—no, that can’t be right.”

    “I’m _not_ a city boy?”

    “What? No, I mean, yeah, you are—that’s not important. It’s nearly five o’clock.”

  Morgan and Melanie paused; Erin waited for it to sink in.

    “No way.” Morgan pulled out his own phone, as though Erin were lying. “Holy shit.”

 

  Erin glanced around the once innocuous leaves, now feeling slightly threatened by the dense atmosphere. “Do you feel anything?” he asked his brother.

  Morgan swallowed before looking around, sniffing the air here and there, and carefully listening to the eerily silence of the wilderness. Eventually he shook his head, “Nope. Its… super quiet. It’s kinda weird. No birds, no animals… nothing.”

    “It’s like this place exists out of time,” Melanie said.

  The boys nodded to each other. “That’s actually pretty smart,” Erin said.

  Melanie frowned. “I go to medical school, Erin.”

Erin put his palms up, pleading. “Sorry, sorry, I know. You’re the smartest one here.” He didn’t even mean it as a joke.

    “I agree,” Morgan said. “But guys, it’s getting late, I think.” He glanced at the green sunlight far above, the leaves making it difficult to judge time accurately. “We should probably head back before we get like, _really_ lost.”

  Melanie and Erin agreed, though Erin reluctantly. They may have come into contact with at least a bit of what the Wisdom Forest had to offer, but Erin wanted _more._

 

  He wanted the Forest God.

 

  But there was no way his brother would have left him alone, in a strange forest filled with even stranger and unknown magic and danger, at night. If there even _was_ such thing as night here.

  And Erin, though his thirst for magic and adventure were unparalleled, didn’t want to be left alone. _Especially_ at night. He had met the monsters that lurked in the dark, had their fangs come close to his skin, had them hungering for his flesh and blood—he wasn’t keen on repeating the experience.

  The Forest God would have to wait.

 

***

 

    “Ohhhh god, not again,” Erin muttered to himself.

  It didn’t matter, however, how low he pitched his voice. Morgan would still hear.

    “What? _Please_ don’t tell me we’re lost again,” Morgan grumbled. The sun had finally begun to set, turning the leaves above pink and gold and purple. Morgan looked less uncomfortable in its absence, but Erin wasn’t eager to see what the forest’s night had to offer.

  He glanced first at his phone, then at the sheer rock face in front of him. “It’s _right here…!_ ” he said as he slammed his palm against the moss-covered rock. “The path continues _right fucking here—_ ”

    “ _Language!_ ” Morgan and Melanie said in unison.

    “—but it clearly _doesn’t…!_ ” Erin ignored the pair, instead praising the Empress that Jotai’s technology was advanced enough he had phone reception and GPS, even out here. But apparently, even that didn’t matter. He’d still managed to somehow get them all lost. Again.

  The image on his phone showed the group on the clear path to the start of the road back to civilisation, but the reality was a huge cliff-face staring right at Erin’s face and no path at all beneath their feet.

    “Maybe it’s broken?” Melanie said with an only slightly reassuring shrug.

    “The GPS? Broken? What year is it…” Erin groused. “I just don’t get how—”

    “Do you get the feeling the forest is dicking with us?” Morgan said as he stared at up into the canopy. “Maybe we’ve already found the ‘Forest God’ or whatever.”

    That wasn’t a bad idea, Erin thought. The idea that the God’s magic was already playing tricks on them made Erin both giddy with excitement, and terribly afraid.

 

  Erin knew magic. He lived in Jotai City, the _city_ of magic, and had seen it in almost every form imaginable. From architecture that hovered kilometres into the sky, to the reversal of death itself, to worlds—once impossibly apart—linked together through Rifts and portals that could cover unimaginable distances… Erin _knew_ magic.

  He also knew, though he was only thirteen, the darker side of magic. Its ability to destroy, to corrupt, to snatch away the ones you love and leave cruel husks behind. He’d seen that too, was looking at the result of dark magic pick his way carefully across the forest floor on impossibly light steps without breaking a single twig.

  To willingly go _looking_ for magic wasn’t an easy decision for Erin to make. But the older he got—and the less human his brother became—the more he despaired he was falling behind. Being a child meant of course being weak, Erin could accept, and even understand, that. What he couldn’t accept was being a weak adult.

  He desperately wanted the strength to be stronger—to be _better._

Even if it meant confronting a god.

 

    “I think you’re right,” Erin said finally. “I think the god’s already found us. Probably knew we were here from the beginning.”

    “What’re you saying?” Morgan asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

  Erin’s stomach turned. “I’m saying I think we’re stuck here. At least—until we find the god. Maybe.”

  Morgan stalked off, shouting over his shoulder, “Nope, I don’t believe it. There’s a way outta’ here. C’mon.”

  Melanie and Erin glanced at each other, then followed close behind.

 

 

  They wandered for what felt like hours, at least until Erin’s feet were sore and his stomach rumbled with hunger. Morgan only continued to stomp through the forest, eyes unperturbed by the eventual darkness.

  It was when Erin stumbled for about the thousandth time that Melanie had had enough. “C’mon Morg, give us a break! Some of us _aren’t_ superhuman, y’know.”

  Erin immediately rested against a tree as Morgan finally stopped. “Plus, I don’t even think you know where you’re going,” Erin said.

    “I do… to…” Morgan came to sit beside Melanie. Though he wasn’t physically tired he gratefully took a few sips from her water bottle. “Nope, I lied. I don’t have a clue. The trail we left behind—”

    “Our scents, you mean,” Erin interrupted.

    “…yes. It’s all gone. Like we were just dropped here, right in the middle of the forest.” Morgan sighed. “But I don’t sense any god, or magic, or anything. I have no idea how it’s doing it.”

 

  In his search for the otherworldly—well, within this world, anyway—strengths, Erin had read up on quite a few lower gods and deities; river and forest spirits, that kind of thing. What he was particularly interested in, in this case, was the Wisdom Forest’s god, whose name Erin had never discovered. He had learnt, however, that the god sometimes granted those that came into contact with it ‘favours’; sometimes good, like prosperity or longevity, and sometimes very, _very_ bad. Erin was staking his hopes on the former; he doubted he’d come across an opportunity like this again.

  If this was the god’s forest, then not only did it make sense for it to be able to change their perception and the forest configuration itself, but also avoid a _Vorvintti’s_ detection. In terms of the supernatural, Erin imagined vampires were pretty low on the food-chain compared to literal _gods._

 

    “You probably can’t tell what it’s doing,” Erin told his brother. “Since, y’know, it _is_ a god and all.”

Morgan made an indignant noise. “Yeah, you’re right. Doesn’t mean I like it though.”

  As the night quickly enveloped itself around them, Erin despaired at the battery life of his phone—he hadn’t planned to be staying in the forest so long. He couldn’t risk using it as a flash-light, though it was next to impossible to see the forest floor. For once he missed the city.

    “I can’t see shit,” Melanie helpfully provided.

    “Hang on,” Morgan said as he got up. By this point Erin had to squint through the darkness to make out the shape of his brother, but Morgan appeared to see just fine. The scraping of bark, the crunch of leaves under foot, the snapping of twigs, and after a moment Morgan came to join them.

  It scared Erin, just a little, even now a year after his brother stopped being human. He had to resist looking away as Morgan’s veins lit up from within, like liquid metal in a furnace. Red eyes glowed from vertical orange pupils, like a cat, glasses flickering with the light between his fingers as Morgan placed his palm against the bundle of dry twigs and leaves he had haphazardly gathered for a fire. It didn’t matter how bad his choice of leaves or sticks may have been, the heat of his hands was enough to ignite the pile as though it were doused in alcohol. Morgan quickly willed the fire under his skin to die, before he burnt down the entire forest—his ‘Sleight’, Erin remembered it was called; the _Vorvintti’s_ unique abilities that passed on between one generation and the next.

  Erin had to admit though, he was relieved to finally be able to see. And the forest had grown surprisingly cold once the night had quickly followed them; he was glad for the fire’s heat, bittersweet as it was.

    “Oh!” he exclaimed, as he reached into his backpack. “Brought some snacks, just in case.”

  Erin’s definition of ‘snacks’ were several different packets of candy and potato chips, to which he received a disapproving look from Melanie. But she took a packet of chips without saying anything after her stomach gave a quiet gurgle.

    “Sorry you can’t have any,” Erin said to his brother. Erin didn’t want to relive the ‘pizza incident’ ever again, and the nauseated look on Morgan’s face as Erin scarfed down a handful of gummy-worms said he didn’t want to relive it either.

  Morgan shook his head. “I wouldn’t want that much sugar in my mouth anyway. You should be careful of your teeth.”

  Erin snorted. “Says mister ‘I-Had-Braces-‘Till-Twelfth-Grade’.”

  Melanie nearly spat out her food. “Really? You never told me that. Any pictures?”

    “ _No._ It’s perfectly normal for any kid to have—”

    “Y’know they were removed just a bit before he met you,” Erin said. “You just missed out.”

  Morgan’s cheeks were bright red, and because of his burning-blood, when he blushed, he _blushed._ At any moment he was liable to have steam erupt from his ears. Erin swore he’d done it once before. “Can you imagine if they were still in when he was—when he was turned,” Erin finished.

    “Braces and glasses… if you weren’t such a jock type you’d be a major nerd,” Melanie said.

   Not much penetrated Morgan’s pride, Erin thought, but Melanie was definitely one of them.

    “Ha ha, let’s all pick on the—”

  Morgan stopped, head snapping up at a sound Erin couldn’t hear.

    “What—” Erin began before Morgan hastily shushed him. The group grew silent. Then—

 

  The creak of a bough.

  Wind whistling through branches.

  The unmistakeable crunch of leaves as _something_ drew closer.

 

  They all glanced around, searching for the disturbance. The hairs on the back of Erin’s neck stood on-end, but search through the flickering firelight as he could, all he could see were trees.

  He couldn’t ask his brother what he was sensing, just in case they heard something else, so he used his mind.

 

    _Anything?_ he shouted in his head, hoping his brother would hear.

  Morgan imperceptibly nodded, just a slight dip of his head.

Erin gulped, tense, fear rising in his belly like bile—it may have been both. He glanced around but couldn’t see a thing out of place.

  Trees. Trees and nothing else.

  A creak of boughs, but nothing else. The steady snapping of twigs, but nothing else. The crunching of leaves underfoot, his own heartbeat heavy in his ears, but _nothing else._

 

  The sudden tension in his brother—the bending of knees, the curling of fingers, the pupils that grew into slits and the parting of lips over elongating fangs—were the only indication that _something_ was very wrong—

  Before they attacked.

***

  Erin had no name for them.

He’d never seen creatures like them before.

 

  They split away from the trunks of trees like shadows melting from their hosts, spindly legs and lean bodies that creaked and clacked like animated toy soldiers. Through the dense firelight Erin glimpsed their gangly, twisted bodies coming slowly toward them, like zombies rising from the grave. Some of the zombie-like creatures walked on two legs like a man, whilst others—the more grotesque, the truly twisted ones—walked on four legs like animals. These didn’t even look human at all; their gaping maws, packed with splintered wood that served as fangs, looked like the jaws of hounds.

  They creaked, wooden legs splintering, as they stalked toward the group, hungrily grasping for them like drowning men.

  But—they were afraid.

  Afraid of the fire.

Erin’s back burned as he backed up against the flames as far as he could, Melanie at his side. Morgan protectively held his arm in front of them, body alight with his Sleight before he’d even realised it.

  The wooden monstrosities were more afraid of him than the campfire.

 

    “Morgan what do we do?!” Erin shouted above the ominous creaking of wood. Eventually the creatures would learn the flames posed no real threat, and they’d attack. It wasn’t as though the group could jump into the fire to escape—at least not _all_ of them.

    “Maybe they just want a hug?” Morgan said, panicking. He says stupid shit when he panics, Erin reminded himself before he could say something not brotherly in the least.

  Before he could look deeper into the forest past the tree-zombies, Morgan interrupted, “Don’t bother. I can hear them—they’re all over the forest. Besides, if we ran, where would we go? Not like our GPS is working.”

  With a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach, Erin realised he was right.

  There was nowhere for them to go.

  They’d die here.

 Morgan clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t think like that. We’ll get out of here—we’ve been through worse, right?”

  Erin gave another of his half-grimace, half-smiles. “Yeah.”

    “Stay here. And…be safe.” Morgan kissed Melanie, then gave his younger brother another pat on the back, before facing the horde of tree-zombies.

 

***

 

  Being of the younger generation with a passion for video games, Erin was overly fond of Pokémon, even in Jotai.

  Any good trainer remembers their type match-ups. It’s crucial to the game.

  And as any good trainer knows, grass is weak to fire.

 

  These tree-zombies were definitely the grass-type, whilst his brother was the level one-hundred fire-type mowing them down like… well, like blades of grass.

  With nowhere to run until morning—at least Erin hoped the tree-zombies would disappear by then—Morgan dispatched each creature as easily as snapping a twig in two. For their eerie appearance, they were surprisingly weak, and not-so-surprisingly flammable; just a punch here, or a touch there was enough to either break them into pieces or set them alight to burn into ashes seconds later. Although Erin had a sneaking suspicion his brother made it look easy.

  What set Erin on edge were the creature’s screams.

Some had the pained cries of animals—those were the more tolerable ones. It was the ones that howled like dying men once they caught fire that set Erin’s teeth chattering.

  Worse than that however, was the cold detachment with which they were killed.

Erin had seen it before. That look in his brother’s eyes wine-red eyes. It was only in the war with the _Vorvintti_ Erin had had the displeasure of seeing it all-too-often. They’d softened considerably since then, especially thanks to Melanie’s influence, but when Morgan was in a fight, when he needed to _kill,_ that same look would return.

  Erin imagined it was the same look the Grim Reaper gave his victims before escorting them to the afterlife.

 

  What felt like hours went by as Morgan took out the tree-zombies with those same cold eyes one-by-one, dispatching them quickly before they had a chance to reach Melanie and Erin.

  But no matter how many he killed, the creatures kept coming, clawing their way out of tree and forest without pause.

    “C’mon…” Melanie groaned as a fresh wave emerged.

  But the tree-zombies paid no attention to Melanie; they filled their ranks just as they had when they first appeared, Morgan’s efforts so far in vain as the forest crowded with the creature’s twisted bodies.

  Erin had to resist a whimper. He was no longer the scared little kid he had once been—at least, he tried to convince himself as much. “They’re not stopping…!”

  Finally, what felt like the hundredth wave attacked, jaws snapping and creaking limbs flailing as they collectively lunged for Morgan.

  He dispatched them as quickly as every single one before, but even Erin could tell when his brother’s strength was starting to fail—but not in the way that might have been expected.

Morgan was a beacon that lit up the forest like a lighthouse, both a deterrent and bait for the tree-zombies that both feared him and wanted him dead. Burning far brighter than he had at the start of the night, Erin felt his movements weren’t nearly so smooth, his careful placement and regulation of flame becoming less controlled. Some creatures burst into flame just by sheer proximity, others Morgan unnecessarily beat down into submission with vicious thrusts and kicks.

 

    _If he continues like this,_ Erin thought, _he’ll burn down the whole forest—and us with it._

  But to Erin’s dismay Morgan hadn’t appeared to catch this thought. The creatures were ablaze with his destructive fire, each of his brother’s attacks growing more desperate than the last, the fire—so well controlled until now—growing hotter and hotter.

    “Morg—”

 

  A rumble, small but noticeable, beneath Erin’s feet.

 

  The tree-zombies immediately stopped in their tracks, like puppets without a master. Morgan failed to notice; he only continued killing any creature in close proximity.

 

  Far too quickly than was possible, the forest grew bright, the purple of night turning into blue, than radiant pink and red, then, impossibly, to gold, as though the rush of morning was on fast-forward. The creatures shrank back into the forest floor and trees, the light chasing them away like shadows. By the time Morgan had slammed the back of a hound-like creature into the ground and burnt it beyond ashes, the tree-zombies were gone.

  But he still hadn’t noticed.

  He shot back up, hands still claws at his sides, veins alight.

 

    “Morgan,” Erin begun gently, finally moving his stiff muscles after a night of tension. “They’re all gone. You can stop now.”

  Only after taking several seconds to take in the forest did Morgan finally relax. Even then, it took a worryingly long time for his veins to return to normal.

    “Yeah,” he said, voice course as though he hadn’t talked in ages. He shielded his eyes from the morning sun that saved their lives. “We should get moving. Maybe we might find a way out of this shithole.”

  Melanie and Erin didn’t need to be told twice. They kicked out the campfire Morgan had lit—and any other fires they could find—and set out, Erin in the lead once again and praying to the Empress his GPS was working.

 

 

***

 

 

  It wasn’t.

 

    _“Fuck!”_ Erin exclaimed.

    _“Language…!”_ Melanie scolded. Morgan said nothing—he hadn’t said much at all since the attack.

 

  Erin glanced from his phone to the sheer waterfall in front of him. It wasn’t enough the path kept leading them astray, but the path they had been travelling on so far resembled nothing from yesterday. It was like the forest had _changed_ overnight.

  Erin sighed. “And you can’t catch our scents at all?”

  Morgan shook his head before gulping down several great mouthfuls of water from the stream flowing over the waterfall’s edge. Erin sighed again, before kneeling and doing the same. Who knows when they’d come across water again, or if they’d even make it out of here alive.

  Morgan choked suddenly, giving Erin a mild heart-attack. “Does this water taste weird to you?” he asked.

    “What, like someone peed in it?” Erin spat out as much of the water as he could.

    “No. Like… off somehow. It’s giving me heartburn.”

  Melanie came to join them, cupping her hands below the stream and tasting the water. “It tastes fine to me. How does _water_ give you heartburn, are you _that_ white?”

    “Hey, _I’m_ fine!” Erin said. “Not giving me heartburn. And we’re _half_ white.”

  Melanie shrugged. “Just you Morg. Maybe stop drinking it…?”

  Though he’d been complaining about the heartburn water, it hadn’t stopped him from taking several more deep sips of the stuff. “Yeah, you might be right there.”

  Morgan sat back on his haunches, rubbing his chest as Melanie turned to Erin expectantly, “Where to now? GPS crapped itself again...”

  Panic fluttered briefly in Erin’s chest before he answered, “I guess we’ll explore the forest more until we find an exit. Bound to turn up at some point.”

  He smiled, but Melanie didn’t look impressed. Erin knew both Melanie and Morgan were at best humouring him with this silly little mission of his, but to have dragged them into this mess…

    “I’m sorry guys. All this crap, it’s my fault.”

  Both Melanie and Morgan hastily scrambled to reassure him.

    “It isn’t your fault—”

    “ _We_ should’ve been more careful—”

    “ _We’re_ the adults here, if I hadn’t lost our scent—”

    “Don’t worry, we’ll get out of this mess—”

    “Guys,” Erin interrupted. “Please, I lead you all into this. It isn’t your fault. But… I’ll find us a way out I sw—”

  His words caught in his throat.

 

  What was that?

  Erin scrambled to his feet, racing back to the stream’s edge—

 

  The glitter of silver. A pale face. The swish of a fish’s tail.

    It couldn’t be but—

 

_Mermaids?_

 

  The glittery silver tail was already further up the stream than when he’d spotted it in the corner of his eye, but Erin hastened to follow anyway. He raced to catch up, pushing through the brush and back into the cool shade of the forest before he lost sight of the mermaid, Melanie and Morgan close behind.

    “Hey…!” he shouted. The mermaid ignored him, instead swimming just a little faster. Erin ran, vaulting rocks and vines, the mermaid in his sights; he wouldn’t allow himself to trip and jeopardize his prize.

    “Erin wait…!” he heard Melanie behind him, but ignored her, eyes focused. If the mermaid turned out to be dangerous, Erin had little doubt it would end up as fried-fish once Morgan came to his rescue.

  As the thought ‘fried-fish’ crossed his mind and made his mouth water, Erin finally lost concentration. Just as the stream curved around a bend atop a hill, Erin slipped on the gnarled roots of a tree and slammed face-first into the tree’s trunk.

    _“Ugh…!”_

    “Are you alright?” Morgan and Melanie asked as they came to join him.

  As Morgan hoisted him to his feet, Erin glanced back up the stream, disappointed when he couldn’t see the glint of a silver tail. “I’m fine. Just lost the damn mermaid is all.”

    “Mermaid?” Melanie asked.

  Erin rubbed his nose. “I think so. I hope so. And it was the first magical thing we’d seen besides those tree-monsters—”

    “Hey guys, what the heck are these?”

  Morgan was holding a ripe purple fruit, rounded and onion-shaped like a pomegranate, but far too soft. The ground was littered with them, and as Erin glanced up into the tree he had slammed his face into he found the same purple fruit drooping heavily from the tree’s branches, along with striking orange blossoms.

    “They smell nice,” Melanie said, holding one of the orange blossoms under her nose.

  Erin gingerly picked up one of the fruits. The fragrance was indeed quite nice, like a strange mix of vanilla and maple syrup, but otherwise unique. “But are they edible is the question,” he said.

  Before anyone could stop him, Morgan tightly squeezed the purple fruit above his lips. To Erin’s surprise, the liquid inside wasn’t purple but a strange clear that was nearly silver.

  Erin and Melanie stood, agape, as Morgan drained the fruit.

    “What?” he said. “As long as I don’t eat it, I’ll be fine. Plus, if it’s poisonous, all I’ll probably get is a tummy ache. Unlike you two. Who would most likely die.”

    “Thanks for clarifying— _Morgan…!”_ Melanie raced to catch Morgan as he doubled over, groaning in pain. “You _idiot—”_

    “Ughhhhh—I’m fine.” Morgan straightened, grinning. “I’m kidding guys, it’s a joke. I’m fine. It’s really tasty.”

  Erin and Melanie stayed tense anyway, just in case karma bit Morgan in the ass early and it turned out he really _was not_ fine. But, to their dismay, it didn’t; he really was fine.

    “You asshole!” Melanie shrieked, picking up and lobbing the purple fruits at Morgan.

  Erin joined in. “I thought you were _dying…!”_

    “It was just a joke you guys, stop…! If it’s any consolation, the juice is giving me heartburn….!”

  The pair finally stopped, satisfied for the moment. “But what if it isn’t poisonous to vamp— _Vorvintti,_ but it is to humans?” Erin asked.

  Melanie shrugged. “If it is, too bad. I’m hungry, and I don’t think Erin has any more snacks.” Melanie bit a huge chunk out of the purple fruit, liquid dribbling down her chin as thoughtful defiance turned into sheer bliss. “Holy crap, you need to try this Erin. It’s like—just try it.”

  Seeing as she was still alive, Erin took a bite out of the soft fruit.

  It really was an experience.

  Erin imagined all his childhood sweets—white chocolate, fudge, sherbet, strawberries and watermelon—rolled into one monstrosity wrapped in purple skin and layered with honeyed vanilla liquid. He’d never tasted anything quite like it.

    “This is the best candy I’ve ever tasted and it’s a damn fruit.”

  The pair nodded conspiratorially, like they were sharing a secret. Morgan wasn’t similarly impressed. “How come we haven’t seen these weird fruits before?” he asked.

  Erin shovelled down his third piece of fruit. “Maybe the mermaid guided us here.”

  Morgan frowned, but dismissed it with a shrug. “Anyway, we’ll take as much as we can carry and keep going. Chances are we probably won’t find this place again if we want to get out.”

  Erin felt inclined to agree. The forest had so far led them in incomprehensible circles—the chances that it would let them see this place again was slim, although… why did the mermaid guide them here in the first place? If that was indeed what it was doing.

  He shook his head. If the forest had plans or something for them in the future, he was both terrified and itching to find out what they were.

  The group packed as much of the strange fruit as they could, refilled their water bottles, and moved on.

 

 

 

  They’d only been walking for what felt like half an hour before the forest divulged another of its secrets.

    “Doesn’t feel like…it’s getting colder?” Erin asked. The canopy far above—so far a brilliant green in the afternoon sun—had slowly begun to lose its colour, bleaching away until the lights filtering through the leaves were white.

  A chilly wind whistled suddenly between the tree trunks, making the hairs on Erin’s arms shiver.

    “Maybe there’s a storm coming,” Melanie suggested as she pulled on her cardigan.

    “That’s the last thing we need,” Morgan grumbled as another gush of wind whipped across the forest floor. This one was far stronger and colder than the last, and howled above the silence of the forest like a dying man. Erin’s teeth begun to chatter, and not entirely from the growing chill.

    “It feels like we’re being watched,” Melanie said just above a whisper. “Are we?” she turned to Morgan.

  Her boyfriend hesitated before answering, glancing around the forest with eyes like a snake. “I’m… I’m not sure. Maybe. Probably.”

_That’s not reassuring_ , Erin thought as he peered between the trees, stomach twisting with unease at what might be staring back at them.

    “I know, but I honestly can’t tell. It’s like whatever it is… isn’t really alive.”

  It took a moment for Erin to realise Morgan couldn’t tell the difference between what was being said aloud, and what was being thought. That only worried him more. His brother only did that rarely, and the last time was—

  No. It didn’t matter. They’d make it out just fine before it could happen again.

  The wind had whipped up into a chilly frenzy without pause, the group berated on all sides as leaves and debris sliced across their exposed hands and faces.

 

  Twenty-First Precinct, the place Erin was raised deep within Jotai City, had never seen snow.

It was rare when natural phenomena struck, or even for there to be extremes in climate, and usually it wasn’t ‘natural’ at all; the culprits tended to be powerful creatures, maybe a djinn or an elemental or even a very skilled mage.

  When it started to snow within the Wisdom Forest, Erin nearly had a panic-attack.

 

    _Rain?_ he first thought as the ferocious wind sent icy slivers of glass across his cheeks. _No… this is—_

    “It’s…snowing?!” Morgan shouted above the howling wind as snowflakes melted before they could touch his skin.

  The group huddled into each other as the wind and snow became a fierce blizzard. Blowing from all sides it was impossible to tell in which direction they had come from, or where they were going; even harder to see through the storm to find their way. Steadily they inched between the tree trunks, but even that was no sanctuary.

  _We need to find somewhere to stay, or else we’ll… freeze to death._ Erin’s teeth trembled uncontrollably—his whole face was numb, and he was beginning to lose feeling in the fingers wrapped around Melanie’s shoulders.

    “Good idea…!” Morgan shouted above the storm before ploughing forward, both their guide and only source of warmth. Melanie and Erin sheltered behind as Morgan braced himself against the wind and parted the growing drift of snow along the forest floor, ice melting quickly at the slightest touch.

 

  Erin had no idea how long they wandered like that.

It could have been minutes, it might have been hours; he had no idea. The back of Melanie’s thin cardigan and trembling shoulders were the only thing visible in his world as he focused on shielding his eyes and face from the endless icy wind, his brother a glowing beacon within the frozen white hell.

  Then suddenly, Morgan stopped.

Melanie slammed into his shoulders, and Erin had to steady himself from crushing her in front of him.

    “W-What is it?” Melanie stammered between blue lips.

    “I dunno, a tree, I think…!” Morgan’s voice was faint in the gale as he took both Melanie’s and Erin’s hands in his and led them forward; Erin resisted crying out in pain and relief as his brother’s blistering fingers brushed against his frozen ones.

  It was indeed a tree—a humongous one that had to have been at least thousand years old, if not the oldest in the forest. But it wasn’t the tree’s size that had taken his brother’s attention—it was the trunk.

  Morgan pushed the pair into a roughly man-sized hole at the base of the trunk, a tree hollow, before shoving his shoulders between the entrance and sealing away as much of the blizzard as he could.

  Erin fell to his feet in exhaustion and relief, rubbing life back into his fingers and cheeks.

    “I’ve n-n-never been this cold in my l-life,” he stammered as feeling began to return to his skin.

    “S-s-same,” Melanie said, leaning against Morgan’s leg. “Y-y-you think you could turn up the heat a little?”

    “I’m not a space heater,” Morgan complained, but puffed out his cheeks in concentration as he willed his blood to burn hotter without roasting them all alive.

    “I-i-if only we had some marshmallows,” Erin teased.

  Morgan faked frowning, but softened into an exhausted smile. Even Erin sometimes forgot that though his brother’s stamina was at godlike levels compared to theirs, even _he_ had his limits. He just hoped they’d find their way out before Morgan reached them.

    “Just a sec…” Morgan stepped away from the door to a chorus of groans before tearing a chunk of bark as tall and wide as Erin away from the old tree’s trunk and driving it between the hollow’s entrance. It was rough, but it blocked enough of the chill that Morgan’s burning blood compensated for the cold. To Erin’s surprise he sat down rather heavily.

    “Tired?” he asked his older brother.

 The pause before his answer made Erin uneasy. “Just a bit.”

  Erin focused on his frozen fingers to get his mind off the subject, just in case his brother was still listening. He didn’t want him thinking he was afrai—

    _Frozenfingersfrozenfingersfrozenfingers—_

_—blood painting the once pristine white walls—_

_They’ll freeze if you don’t heat them up—_

_—eyes as red as blood and pupils like a cat, hunting him down,_ fangs—

    _We need to get out of here soon, or we’ll die of starv—_

_—hunting him_ down—

 

    “I’m about ready for a snack. Aren’t you, Erin?”

    Erin flinched as Melanie reached for her handbag. He didn’t want to look at his brother’s face, but Morgan had flinched beside him. It was imperceptible, but in his periphery Morgan angled away from the both of them, just slightly enough that his shaggy black hair blocked his eyes from view. Melanie hadn’t seen it. Erin pretended not to notice as he reached for his own backpack and one of the purple fruits inside.

    “On second thought, I’m not really hungry…” Erin faked a smile as he put the fruit away, instead grabbing his phone. He resisted throwing it; the GPS outright refused to work now. The time displayed said it was around three pm, which was the same it was when he last checked it—about three hours ago, if the encroaching darkness outside was anything to go by.

  The Wisdom Forest not only distorted space, but time as well.

  Erin was already imagining a nice place to be buried near the strange purple fruit tree, serenaded by silver-tailed mermaids singing his dirge in their hollow voices.

 

  He imagined his brother crying tears of blood over his grave, immortal body cursing him to stay alive until he himself starved to death. Angels would descend from heaven, golden wings—far more golden than Erin had ever imagined, more like liquid gold shaped into feathers than actual wings—fluttering around their impossible to comprehend bodies of light and fire and metal blades and burning eyes that followed you and stared into your soul, hungry for justice, for darkness—

 

    _“ERIN…!”_

  Erin awoke not in a daze but instantly aware of where he was and to Melanie shaking him, heart pounding wildly in his chest as he sat up abruptly. The dream was already fading by the time he noticed the golden light filtering between the bark, and completely gone by the time he noticed the sweltering heat within the tree hollow. What was it again? A beat of wings, a splash of red—

  It was too hot. He peeled his jacket away from his clammy skin, breathing heavily. Was last night a dream as well? The cold, the snow, the wind?

    “How didn’t we notice?” Erin asked, flapping a hand across his face. “And why are we all still in here?”

  Melanie pointed to her boyfriend, who was gently snoring, veins still alight with his Sleight. “I can’t wake him up. And whatever he did with the bark, it stopped the blizzard coming in, but I can’t kick it out for shit.”

  Erin wasn’t that much taller or stronger than her, but he tried kicking out the bark as well. No such luck; the piece of bark was surprisingly thick and sturdy.

    “But wait, did we all… _all_ fall asleep?”

  Melanie nodded with a frown. “I remember the blizzard but then…nothing. I just blacked out.”

     _A flutter of molten-gold wings, eyes that_ glared—

    “Same here.” Erin mentally shook himself. “Just blacked out, then you woke me up.”

  Melanie gave another frown, then turned back to Morgan. “You got any ideas on how to wake him up?”

    “A few,” Erin answered. For an immortal his brother sure could sleep; Erin had learnt that the hard way. He supposed it took a lot of energy to move a godly body like that, but still—it was more a bane than a boon when he was literally roasting his little brother and girlfriend alive. At least he’d learnt a few improvised ways on waking him up.

  He slapped him first—not before taking off his glasses, of course. Morgan didn’t even stir.

  Since they had no idea how long before they’d next see a stream, Erin was reluctant to use the water, though it was the most effective—the steam usually shocked him awake straight away.

  Instead he tried shouting as loudly as he could into his brother’s sensitive ears—even that had no effect, though Morgan did frown just a little. It was like waking the dead.

  Erin mentally slapped himself as he tried his last trick before going for the water. _Very_ gently at first, he placed his fingers against Morgan’s throat, near his Adam’s apple. After a few seconds without a response he applied pressure, not enough to choke his brother but enough to let him know his fingers were there.

    “…What are you doing?” Melanie asked, doubtful.

  Erin applied yet more pressure, nearly digging his fingers into Morgan’s tough skin. He’d never had to go this far before. “It’s… kind of a sore-spot for him.”

    “‘Sore-spot’?”

  Erin pretended to be too distracted to answer, stretching out the moment until—

  Morgan’s eyes snapped open, pupils snapping into slits. Erin relaxed his body as his brother grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed him back into the soft earth.

  His heart was racing with panic but he kept his face calm. It’d only be worse for Morgan later if appeared agitated.

  It took his brother a few seconds to properly come to, and by then his fangs were dizzyingly close to Erin’s throat.

    “E-Erin?” he said after a moment. Hastily leaning back onto his haunches, he hoisted Erin up, an angry but apologetic look on his face. “How many times have I told you _not_ to fucking do that?”

  Erin calmly countered it was the only way to wake him up. The pair very deliberately let the subject drop as Morgan kicked in the bark blocking the hollow entrance as easily as snapping a twig in two.

  Breathing in a sigh of relief, he said, “Ahh fresh air—”

    “Hang on!” Melanie called as the pair gratefully left the sweltering hollow behind. “Are we just moving on from that?”

  Erin took several sips from his canteen and passed it to his brother. “From what?”

    “‘From what?’ From the hand on neck thing, that’s what.”

  Morgan choked, the water instantly turning to steam between his lips. He gave Erin a barely-reserved dark look. “It’s nothing.” But he knew Melanie wouldn’t be satisfied with just that. “I’m going to look around a bit,” he declared.

  Erin hastily scrambled to stop him. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to split up—”

    “I’ll find you guys, don’t worry.”

  Erin clamped his mouth shut. His brother had never abused him in his life, outside of stupid things older brothers always did. But—and he knew it was silly, but—if he lost control of his emotions, of his _humanity,_ for even a split second—

    “I’ll be back, don’t worry.”

  He disappeared into the cover of the forest quickly, the crunching of leaves growing faint and his form disappearing far too soon for Erin’s liking.

    _Don’t be an asshole,_ Erin berated himself. _He won’t hurt you, not ever. He’s_ never _done anything to put you in danger—not on purpose anyway._

  Melanie sighed, breaking his train of thought. “Why do I put up with this, ha ha? I’m joking,” she reassured at Erin’s face, “it’s just how he is. The brooding type, y’know.”

  Erin sighed theatrically. “Oh I know. Believe me.”

    “I suppose you would,” Melanie giggled. “But yeah, anyway. The neck thing.”

    “Oh, that…” Erin’s mood soured. He walked on ahead, and Melanie hastened to follow. “He probably won’t want me telling you this, but when he was still human he—he had his throat torn out right here,” Erin tapped a spot just below his Adam’s apple, then drew a line up his neck, “the whole thing. Straight up gone, by the woman that turned him. One day when I was tryna wake him up, I accidentally put my hand there, and he totally flipped out, like he did just then…” He didn’t tell her just how close Morgan had come to tearing out his _own_ throat that day; Erin’s thrashing in panic and fear hadn’t had helped. It was a learning experience for the both of them.

    “Oh…” Melanie supplied finally. “I guess I shouldn’t have asked, huh? Sore-spot.”

    “Sore-spot…” Erin agreed. He glanced at his phone, more out of habit than an actual need. The time displayed read ten pm, though the golden morning light brightening the leaves above said otherwise. Just for shits and giggles he checked his GPS.

    “Holy shit.”

    “What?”

  He checked the map, the forest around him, then the map again. “The GPS is working.”

    “What? No way.” Melanie took the phone from his hand, glancing from the map to the path ahead. “Holy shit,” she finally agreed.

  The display showed the group much further than Erin could have imagined from where they’d arrived. If the map was anything to go by, they’d travelled across the forest to the other side of the mountain ridge, probably twenty or so kilometres in all. It would take them about a day to walk back, Erin realised. He tried not to cry as he told his to Melanie.

    “Hmm… Well, what do you expect, I guess.” She laughed it off, to Erin’s amazement. “At least be glad we finally have a way out, and we’re not gonna’ starve to death here.”

    “True,” Erin relented. He called his brother, hoping Morgan’s phone was still on. It was.

    “…Yeah?”

    “The GPS started working. We should be able to find our way back, but it’ll take like, a day.”

  Morgan didn’t answer for a few seconds, to Erin’s dismay. Then, “Okay. I’ll be there soon.” Before Erin could say anything else, he hung up.

    “How _do_ you put up with him?” Erin joked, but still curious for the answer. Morgan was the type to fall in love extremely easily, but he’d never been able to keep a steady girlfriend. Erin suspected it might have been because of the way he bottled his emotions, even _before_ he was turned into an emotionally vacant minion of the Dead.

    “Hmm,” Melanie put a thoughtful finger to her chin. “Well he’s a whole lot nicer when he isn’t hungry, for one thing.”

    “So like a girl, basically.”

  Melanie shot him a look. “…Yeah, pretty much. And I dunno, he might be distant sometimes but he doesn’t mean it, it’s just how he is. He isn’t being… malicious by it?”

    “…So like a cat, you mean.”

  Melanie whacked him gently on the back of the head. “Yes, my boyfriend is basically a cat, is what I’m trying to say. Right down to the messy fur.”

    “Are you saying I’m hairy?”

  The pair whipped around, Erin nearly tripping over the fallen leaves. “M-Morgan…!” they said in unison.

  Erin was relieved. His brother was smiling, the trace of unease from before all but gone.

    “You have a pretty decent amount of hair, I’d say,” Melanie yielded as the group continued on, following Erin’s GPS. “Just too much on your head, maybe.”

  Morgan attempted to flatten his crow’s nest of hair, to no avail. “Forget it. No one touches this mess but me.”

  Melanie shrugged. It looked like it was an argument they’d already had plenty of times before.

 

***

 

  There wasn’t much room for talking after that.

The group had to spare as much of their energy as they could to traipse the mountain ridge, now without the aid of the Wisdom Forest’s weird space distortion. Erin was already missing waking up and discovering they’d travelled kilometres overnight.

  To everyone’s surprise, a few hours after they’d started out, as the strong afternoon sun crested over the last ridge the group had just painstakingly climbed, Morgan was the first to collapse.

 

    _“Ngh..!”_ Morgan leaned against the nearest tree, hood falling away as he struggled to remain standing. As he clutched his throat Erin realised immediately it wasn’t at all surprising for his brother to have collapsed now—he hadn’t had anything to eat for days, and using his Sleight so haphazardly… It took its toll.

    “Morgan—”

Erin held out his arm before Melanie could get any closer. He waited a few seconds for his brother to compose himself, before calmly asking, “Can you go on?”

  It took Morgan a few swallows before he could get enough saliva in his mouth to answer. “Water.”

  Erin quickly retrieved their canteen, handing it to his brother who took several greedy gulps before the water had a chance to steam. Erin was glad he was only having trouble controlling his burning blood; at least he hadn’t reached the stage in his hunger where he was lethargic and couldn’t move. But as Morgan struggled to get back to his feet, Erin despaired the lethargy stage may have been closer than they all realised. And the stage that came after.

  Morgan rubbed his chest, grimacing.

    “Heartburn?” Erin asked.

  His brother nodded. “It just won’t go away.”

    “Are you sure you’ll be alright to keep going?”

    “I’ll be fine,” Morgan reassured, though the constant glow inside his brother’s veins said otherwise. “Don’t worry about me.”

  Erin frowned, but said—and tried to think—nothing else as the group continued on. His GPS told them they were only a few kilometres or so out from where they’d entered the forest. But…

  The path ahead looked nothing like the one they had first journeyed on.

He was sure there had been a slight path beaten onto the trek from animals passing through, and that the trees had eventually thinned out the closer they were to civilisation… But the densely packed trees around him and the sheer cliff-face to his left looked nothing like that. Out of place was also the distant gurgle of a stream and the faint singing of… birds?

  In the few days since he had arrived here, Erin had not heard a single animal, let alone a bird.

Melanie looked equally as puzzled as she glanced from the phone to the strange landscape. “Maybe it’ll thin out once we get out of these damn trees?”

  Erin nodded, hoping she was right. But a heavy feeling like wet cement sank to the bottom of his belly and stayed there as the group brushed aside the dense foliage and stood before a clearing.

 

    “This wasn’t here before,” Erin heard himself saying.

Melanie was the first to creep into the clearing. The moment her foot touched the grass she—

  Vanished.

    _“Mel…!”_ Morgan dashed passed Erin and leapt into the clearing, and he too disappeared.

  Gone. Like they were never there in the first place.

Erin glanced around the clearing, a single golden beam of sunlight illuminating lush grass and wildflowers in full bloom.

  It was so peaceful.

  Erin was terrified.

It was a split second decision— _What if they’re dead?_

_What if it kills me?_

At the thought of having to go back home and explain to his father his oldest son was dead, Erin held his breath and leapt into the clearing.

 

 

 

  He tripped.

Falling head-over-heels he rolled several times across the grass until something stopped him.

    “You okay?”

  Erin’s eyes snapped open. His brother loomed over him, holding a hand out. Erin took it gingerly, both relieved and astonished as he glanced around his surroundings.

  It was the clearing. It wasn’t the clearing.

    “What the hell…?” he heard himself say as he gazed at the sky. The world around himself seemed to heave and ripple, the sun staggering across the sky and the soft pastel pinks and blues of twilight taking over in a matter of seconds. There were no stars, the norm in Jotai, but the distant ripple of magic out in the cosmos seemed to quiver, as though the world struggled to remain anchored in time.

    “It’s insane,” Morgan agreed, voice low. “But take a look around.”  
  Erin did.

He had heard a stream from between the brush, but could have sworn he hadn’t been able to see it when he first laid eyes on the clearing. Crystalline water streamed on both sides of a great road leading out through the other side of the clearing, trees lining up perfectly on either side like a great procession. The ground was overrun with wildflowers and grass, the trees on either side practically drooping with the fruits they bore. The canopy far above rippled with life from hundreds of birds roosting in its branches and singing their songs; animals zipped along the forest floor with reckless abandon, collecting fruits and chittering excitedly.

  It was the exact opposite from the usual forest they had experienced up until then. Erin found himself both mesmerised, but terribly suspicious—why had the forest decided to show them this now?

  The great road of trees seemed to thin out ahead, and Erin could swear he could see the distant lights of the main city. They were nearly home. They just needed to get passed… whatever this was.

    “C’mon,” Erin urged, starting forward.

    “Mmmbrgh…!”

  Morgan had his head beneath the stream’s water, swallowing mouthful after mouthful to calm his thirst. Erin dismissed it—at first.

  Shaggy head bursting from the water’s edge, Morgan—

  —was screaming.

  His face was steaming, and for a moment Erin thought it was just his Sleight going out of control.

  It wasn’t. Morgan tried slapping the water away, but it was a losing battle. The water was… it was…

  _…melting his face away._

    Morgan screamed, but Erin couldn’t do anything to help—the steam was so hot and intense, he couldn’t get close. His brother was coughing up the water he had swallowed, steam and blood coming back up his throat as he hacked out the water—and the flesh it was burning it its wake like acid.

    _“Morgan…!”_ Melanie shouted, but it was no use.

  Everything was lost in a fiery blaze of steam, the only thing visible through the smog the red-hot tracery of Morgan’s veins.

  Erin hoped his brother would be alright. He’d seen him heal and come back from far worse than this—he’d be okay. He had to be.

  He was right.

  But he wished he wasn’t.

The steam began to die down, Morgan’s screams long since gone once the water burned his oesophagus. Erin was about to sigh with relief—

  —until Morgan lunged from the blanket of steam.

  Palms like steel traps, Morgan slammed Erin’s shoulders into the grass, claw-like nails digging into his shoulders and forcing him to the ground. Erin’s worse nightmares began to unfold in slow-motion as his brother went for his throat. Now was the time to struggle.

  He kicked and screamed, squirmed and wriggled, but his brother’s grip was iron, his far larger and taller body a vice. Melanie wrapped her arms around Morgan’s chest and heaved, but it might as well have been like moving a mountain. Morgan tipped his head back and caught Melanie on the chin, sending her sprawling to the ground in a daze.

  There was nothing left for him to do.

  As he prepared to relax his body, Erin figured there was a slim chance he might survive this; that his brother’s blood could probably repair whatever damage he did anyway. If he didn’t kill him first.

  Erin closed his eyes and relaxed his body for the inevitable.

    _I’m sorry, Morgan._ _I shouldn’t have dragged you to this stupid fucking place—_

 

 

 

    “Enough.”

 

 

  The ground rumbled beneath Erin’s shoulders.

  A whistle of air. The snap of a rope.

  —and the pressure of his brother on top of him gone.

  Erin opened his eyes at the sounds of Morgan’s snarls. He couldn’t properly comprehend what he was seeing.

  Opaque ropes that glowed a faint blue wrapped themselves around Morgan’s neck and arms, holding him in place. It took Erin a moment to realise the ropes were made from water, and stemmed from the two streams running along the side of the road of trees. The water pulled Morgan back as his brother growled with frustration and hunger—then pain. Through the water Erin could see wherever it touched Morgan’s skin it ate away at his flesh like acid.

  His brother snarled once again, then grimaced, before settling into a low groan.

 

    “S-stop…” Erin whispered as Morgan’s eyelids began to lower, his veins growing dim like a furnace losing heat. As his brother lost consciousness, the water finally let him go and receded back into the stream. Erin raced ahead to catch his brother before he fell.

  He was out cold.

 

    “Who let that filthy thing in here?”

 

  Erin glanced away from Morgan’s sleeping form—he thanked the Empress the wounds were already healing, but it was agonisingly slow—at the strange new voice.

  But he couldn’t find the source.

  It was like it had come from nowhere, and everywhere at once.

    “Over here,” the voice said, as smooth and hypnotic as velvet. Up ahead, blocking the way toward the city, was a vaguely humanoid watery form, swaying as the current of water from the two streams kept it upright. It was lumpy and it was struggling to stay up; Erin almost laughed.

  Until it coalesced into a different form.

 

  They was beautiful. Not in any way Erin had ever seen before—they weren’t celebrity or model beautiful. It was undeniably like witnessing the beauty only nature could conjure; a majestic mountain range, or a beautiful sea or a grand forest. They was all of these things. And none of them.

  Because the figure in front of Erin had a distinctly human face.

  Pale blue skin—the colour of ice glaciers—adorned an almost elfish face, cunning silver eyes like a fox peering out from between feathery white eyelashes and short bangs. The lower half of their body seemed to shift under a constant torrent of water—as unstable as a river, never truly giving away their true form—and they were far taller than a human could ever be.

  Erin was drawn to the eye above the creature’s forehead. It was the only thing on their body that was out of place, glowing fiercely gold and peering down at Erin like it could see straight into his soul. It made him uneasy just to look at.

  The thing giggled, but the laughter only made Erin more anxious. “Was it you?”

  Erin glanced around, but the creature was definitely addressing _him._ “W-what?”

  The creature clicked its tongue, peering at their alarmingly long talons. “Did you bring that disgusting Void creature here?” They pointed with their talons toward Morgan’s snoring form.

  It took Erin a moment before he could find his voice. “M-My brother? I didn’t know—”

    “Of course you didn’t,” they rolled their eyes, “humans know so little.”

    “W-W-What did you do to him?”

  The creature’s silver eyes narrowed just slightly. “ _I_ saved your life. It was about to _eat you._ Don’t you understand that?” The creature sighed dramatically. “What’re you doing here? Leave, before I get bored.”

  Erin thought about it.

He really did consider picking up Morgan—with Melanie’s help—and dragging him back to the city beneath the creature’s displeased gaze. He couldn’t lie; it was a very tempting offer.

  But he hadn’t come all this way for nothing—

  —hadn’t put everyone’s lives in danger just to back out now.

  If it killed him, it killed him; he just needed to try.

    “I’m here,” Erin steeled himself, taking a slow breath, “for your favour.”

  The god—Erin realised what they actually were: the Forest’s God—looked shocked. Then they began to laugh. It was a noise like water over rocks, and it sent Erin’s teeth on edge.

    “My ‘favour’? Since when was _that_ a thing? Is that what the humans are thinking nowadays? Hilarious…!” They doubled over with laughter, water puddling along the forest floor.

  Things weren’t looking too good. He glanced over at his brother; frustratingly peaceful in asleep.

    “I came for your help, Forest God! I need—”

    “Me to dispose of that _thing?_ ” Eyes once again narrowed, they pointed to Morgan as they wiped the last of their tears away.

    “N-No! I need—”

    “To leave this forest immediately and never return? Hopefully taking that _filth_ with you?”

    “No, I _need—”_

    “For me, this gracious god, to send that _scum_ to the Netherworld never to return—”

    _“Will you stop badmouthing my brother!”_ Erin screamed…then clamped his mouth shut after what he had done sank in. _He had just screamed_ _at a god._

The god’s eyes couldn’t possibly narrow any further. Erin shivered as the god sneered, exposing a row of pointed teeth, like a shark.

    “He isn’t your brother anymore,” the god said cruelly, taking pleasure in the look of misery on Erin’s face. “You must know that by now, _human._ ”

 

    _It isn’t worth it,_ Erin decided, backing away toward Morgan. _I’m getting us out of—_

    “Nyx, you are being unnecessarily cruel.”

 

 

  The god, Nyx, seemed to pale if that were possible, shrinking in on themselves like a child chastised.

  Beneath Erin’s feet the ground seemed to rumble, and a storm of fierce wind blew across the clearing, sending a gale of leaves and flowers into a tornado. The trees seemed to shed their leaves as well as the foliage were forced together by unseen hands, guided and shaped into the unmistakeable shape of a person.

  Nyx grimaced as the debris coalesced into a being beside them.

    “You should not treat them like that. You know better.”

  The other god lightly karate-chopped Nyx on the forehead, and where the second god’s touch landed, Nyx’s skin became mud.

 

  In Erin’s opinion, the second god was somehow far more beautiful than Nyx.

Dark skin, like the boughs of a tree, were adorned with freely growing moss and flowers, as though a chunk of earth had grown sentient and started walking. Green hair as luscious and vibrant as grass and adorned with crowns of flowers and vines tumbled down the god’s shoulders in a wild tangle. The bottom half of the god was even stranger than Nyx, ending in the graceful legs of a deer like a centaur carved from wood. And like a deer a spectacular set of horns adorned the god’s head, nestled between them a single red eye similar to Nyx’s golden one—the only thing that didn’t seem to belong.

  Birds easily came to rest upon the god’s shoulders and horns as they turned their warm honey-coloured eyes toward Erin.

    “If it is any consolation,” the god said gently, “at least you do not have to live with this one.”

 

  Erin realised his mistake far too late.

  This whole time he had been under the impression he was dealing with only a single god, when in fact—

  There had been _two_ all along.

 

  Nyx clicked their tongue as the second god patted their head. “Don’t coddle me, Ostra.”

 Ostra stopped patting Nyx, but didn’t appear to look hurt. They seemed pretty familiar with each other. Erin wondered what that might have been like, immortal and forever stuck with each other.

    “U-Um excuse me, F-Forest God, and erm—River God?” Erin gulped as the pair turned their full attention toward him. “I was—well—”

    “You’re still here?” Nyx sneered.

  Ostra silenced Nyx with a look. “I am sorry about my little pets coming at you on the first night you were here,” Ostra giggled as though it had been a minor inconvenience. “It was Nyx’s idea. I thought I would go along with it, but seeing how much stress that caused all of you… I have regretted it ever since!”

  Nyx smiled, showing off their rows of shark teeth. “That blizzard was all me though.”

    _Yeah I know,_ Erin thought, but didn’t say.

    “And you should not have done that, Nyx! It could have killed them. Humans are sensitive creatures!”

  Nyx nodded toward Morgan, who somehow remained blissfully ignorant in sleep. “Not all of ‘em are human though.”

  Ostra didn’t outright frown—Erin didn’t think they were even capable of doing it—but they’re face did look somewhat disapproving. “I am aware of that. But the Void creature is this little one’s brother. We cannot kill him—” Ostra silenced Nyx with another look before they started to protest. “You know how humans are with their familial bonds _.”_

  Nyx pouted, but didn’t argue. It seemed as though Ostra had the greater authority out of the pair of them—Erin figured it might have been because this forest belonged more to the Forest God than to Nyx.

  He straightened as Ostra turned their attention back toward him. “And this one was asking for a ‘favour’, I believe? We do not usually grant such favours, though we have played with humans and the like whenever they enter our forest from time to time.”

  Erin didn’t like the sound of that. Play? In his experience, most immortals were all the same—they trampled on any life they came across because it seemed short and pointless to them. Erin was sick of being treated like a plaything, to be discarded once the game was no longer fun.

    “I guess a favour was too much to ask for,” he began, voice brimming with barely-contained anger. “What I’m really after is… strength. I—” the idea came to him just as he thought about how weak he was compared to these two gods, to his brother “—I’m weak. I know that. I’m only human. You said it yourself. There’s no way I could compare to the power of an all-powerful god, such as the two of you.”

    “Damn right,” Nyx smiled.

    “Of course, it is impossible,” Ostra lamented.

  Erin continued. “I just came to this forest hoping… for something _more._ Power, strength… just a boost in the right direction, even. I beg you,” he went to his knees, prostrating himself before the two gods he was very quickly beginning to dislike, “grant me a _favour.”_

  He could tell just from the look on their faces as he peered between his copper bangs—they weren’t gods that were used to people preying to them. They were hooked.

  Ostra glanced at Nyx conspiratorially, contemplating. “I suppose… we could maybe… perhaps preform the Sibylline ritual?”

  Nyx nodded slowly. “Hmm, yeah, I guess we could. Since the brat asked so nicely.”

  Before Erin could ask what a ‘Sibylline ritual’ was, the pair started to _melt._

 

  Nyx melted back into a torrent of water that danced around the clearing, whilst Ostra seemed to crumble into a pile of dirt and foliage that clumped together and begun to mirror Nyx’s movements. The two opposing forces of water and earth rippled and twisted around each other like ribbons dancing in a breeze, twirling close but never touching. As the pair coiled closer and closer—

  They collided.

In a spectacular shower of golden light, the water and earth, instead of becoming mud like Erin might have expected, melded together to form a single figure that loomed above the treetops. He had to shield his eyes as the deity formed limbs and a body within the radiant light. As the gold faded and the form settled, he marvelled at the new deity.

  

  If Erin imagined what a galaxy might look like in human form, it might have been something along the lines of this.

  The deity had hair spun from gold, and it flowed and billowed behind them as though it had a mind of its own. Erin could only equate its skin to clear glass, because trapped beneath was captured Jotai’s night sky; the streams of magic that reminded Erin of the auroras back home, and the distant galaxies of other worlds twinkling within. Eyes covered the deity from head to toe, either silver or gold, glancing this way and that as though they could see through the galaxies trapped beneath their skin.

  It turned its only mismatched, pupil-less eyes on its face—one red, the other gold—down to Erin.

 

    “Erin Takashima.”

 

  The voice was neither loud, nor soft; not inside his head, but not out loud either, but _everywhere at once._ He was forced to his knees by the sheer power behind it, and goosebumps broke out on every exposed part of his skin.

    “Erin, I hope you know what you’re doing,” he heard Melanie whisper behind him, similarly brought to her knees by the deity’s might.

  He hoped so too.

 

    “Human. I Witness You.”

 

  Erin’s body shivered, as though someone were walking on his grave. Every eye on the deity’s body trained on him carefully, trembling as they “witnessed” whatever it was he couldn’t see.

  As he kneeled, trapped beneath the deity’s heavy gaze, the golden threads of light serving as the deity’s hair triggered something in him he couldn’t quite remember, like déjà vu—a flutter of bronze wings, the whisper of blades… a dream?

  What was it again?

  He couldn’t remember; just as quickly as the thought entered his head, it was snatched away on the wind.

  Then, the deity relaxed. He couldn’t be too sure, but it seemed to smile just slightly, a gaping maw filled with golden light.

 

    “ _Human,”_ it twisted the word in a way Erin didn’t understand, “I Have Witnessed You.”

 

  Its task completed, the deity _exploded._

 

  It took some time before Nyx and Ostra reformed, but even then Erin still couldn’t manage to stand completely; it was like the deity had sapped his strength.

  As he and Melanie leaned on each other for support, the pair of gods finally managed to coalesce.

    “Man,” Nyx sighed, cracking their neck. “I missed that.”

  Ostra picked golden threads from their thorns. “Me too. It is quite thrilling.”

  After the experience of the greater deity, Erin felt like his awe over the two lesser gods were dwindling. “And? What did you see?” he asked impatiently.

  For the first time, Nyx flashed Erin a _genuine smile._ It freaked him out more than when the god was threatening him. “You, my buddy, my _pal—”_

“Maybe I should explain this one?” Ostra said gently, but their barky hand was firmly clamped on Nyx’s shoulder, turning the water god’s skin to mud. Nyx had no choice but to concede, but they did it with a barely controlled scowl.

  Ostra stepped closer to Erin, and to his surprise, knelt down on their deer legs until they were both eye level. “Our favour would be wasted on the likes of you.”

    “But—”

    “Do not misunderstand. It is not a matter of you being too weak to handle our gift. It as a matter of _us_ being too weak to give it to you. It is difficult to explain… _time_ is a difficult thing.”

  Erin was puzzled, to say the least. “I don’t get it. I’m… I’m _nothing—”_

“The Sibylline ritual is used to witness the past, present and future of a single being, only an ability the Empress is capable of, yet has been blessed on the two of us. Because of that we cannot explain what in your future awaits. Only, as you said, give you ‘a boost in the right direction’.”

  Nyx nodded, glancing at Ostra for permission to speak. “You got some pretty interesting shit ahead of you, kiddo. The likes of us… we don’t even _compare.”_

 

  Erin was having a crisis. He understood perfectly well the words coming out of the god’s mouth, separately, but together he was having difficulty comprehending their meaning. “A-And what might that boost be?”

  Ostra and Nyx glanced at each other for the first time uneasily. That didn’t help Erin’s nerves.

    “Well,” Ostra said gently. “We can give you some advice:”

 

_“Find the black cat raised in blood—”_ Ostra began.

_“—and the man with one eye.”_ Nyx continued.

_“Then a girl with hair as white as milk—”_

_“—and the being entombed in metal.”_

_“Do not fear the shackles when they come—”_ Ostra continued.

_“—and don’t worry about the second son—”_ Nyx interjected.

    _“For you are far stronger than them all,”_ the pair of gods finished in unison.

 

  Erin’s first thought was: _That doesn’t even rhyme._

His second was to ask the pair of gods to repeat their message so he could record it on his phone. He seriously doubted they would, but to his surprise they indulged him. It’d be handy having a prophecy recorded, wouldn’t it?

  As though reading his mind, Ostra said, “This is not a prophecy, human one. It is just advice.”

    _Sure,_ Erin thought. _It certainly_ sounds _like a prophecy._

    “Even without us telling you this shit you’ll figure it out anyway,” Nyx provided.

    _That sure sounds like fate, or y’know, a_ prophecy _to me,_ Erin resisted saying aloud. “Okay,” he said instead.

  Nyx groaned. “You don’t believe this isn’t a prophecy, huh? Listen, we’re just doing what _she_ wants, if you got problems, go to her.”

  Ostra playfully slapped Nyx, but it came out more like a one-hit k.o. Nyx looked as though they’d passed out as the forest god said, “Do not listen to this one, ha ha! Nyx knows nothing.”

    “…Who is ‘she’?” Erin asked slowly.

    “She? She is no one! Just an old tale the humans thought up years ago, ha ha! It is nothing, human one. Ignore Nyx; the water god is stale and senile.”

    “Hey! I heard that! You’re older than m—”

  Ostra got Nyx with another k.o. that had the water god dissolving into a dazed puddle that washed back into the stream. “There. Finally gone—erm, I mean, oh dear, Nyx had to leave suddenly.”

  Erin was thinking Nyx wasn’t the only one around here going senile.

    “Follow our _advice_ and everything should be as smooth as the sailing, human one! Here, allow me to assist…”

  The ground shifted beneath Erin’s feet as Ostra moved the earth. He yelped as the ground seemed to suck him up.

    “Do not resist! It will only be for a moment!”

  Erin had to try very, very hard not to scream in panic as the soil swallowed him, Melanie and the still ignorantly sleeping form of his brother whole.

 

  To Ostra’s credit, it really was for just a moment.

As quickly as he had been swallowed, the ground spewed him out like a globule of spit, depositing him right were the shuttle had dropped the group off several days before.

  But things couldn’t be any more different.

  The entrance to the forest looked exactly the same as it had when they’d first arrived, the streams and road of trees gone. Looking around he was surprised to see the sky was pitch black, the constellation of magic the only guide to where the ground and sky began. Off in the distance Jotai City glowed invitingly—he’d never been so homesick in his life. Erin peered back.

  The gods were nowhere to be found.

    “So… that’s it then,” he said aloud with a sigh.

    “That’s it,” Melanie concurred.

    “Just a cryptic prophecy—”

    “It’s not a prophecy, its _advice_.”

    “—and they dump us back here? Just like that? Without a goodbye? Sheesh.”

  He sat heavily on the ground. After a moment, Melanie came to join him.

    “No shuttles at three in the morning, huh?” she mumbled.

    “Nope,” Erin confirmed.

 

  He couldn’t catch a break.

 


End file.
